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Human Trafficking

Every year, thousands of men, women and children around the world are trafficked into the United States to be sold for commercial sex and labor. Human trafficking is the fastest growing and the third-largest criminal activity in the world. This exploitation of young women, men, and children is a tragic human rights offense. As a co-chair and cofounder of the Human Trafficking Caucus, Congresswoman Maloney is working to end this terrible crime, both in New York and internationally.

Taking care of survivors: Congresswoman Maloney was the lead House Democratic Cosponsor of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), which was signed into law on May 29, 2015. Congresswoman Maloney has met and worked with many survivors of human trafficking who escaped their captors and pimps, but then have nowhere to turn to for support. These men and women often end up homeless, which can facilitate a return to prostitution or exploitation. The JVTA creates a “Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund” within the Treasury Department to support critically needed services for victims, such as training law enforcement to rescue victims, prosecute human traffickers, and restore the lives of victims.

Attacking the demand side: Congresswoman Maloney understands that in order to effectively prevent trafficking in the future, Congress must attack the demand side of sex trafficking. This means we must work to eliminate the demand for sex with minors, child pornography and trafficked labor.

Business transparency: Large businesses and corporations are some of the main consumers of trafficked and child labor. Congresswoman Maloney believes it is necessary for these large businesses to provide consumers information on products that are free of child labor, forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking. That is why she introduced the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act. This legislation would make businesses with more than $100 million dollars in international receipts transparent about their labor policies, and make it necessary to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission measures they have taken to rid their supply chains of human slavery and post this information on their company websites. This way, businesses and consumers can use publicly available disclosures to avoid promoting and purchasing goods and products that are associated with these tainted supply chains.

Eradicating advertising for commercial sex: Congresswoman Maloney has called on internet sites, such as backpage.com, to shut down their adult services pages that aid in the exploitation and sexual abuse of minors. She has supported legislation that would designate funding to attack internet sites that exploit minors to have them shut down.

Catching the perpetrators: Trafficking is an extremely secretive and underground business, making it difficult to find and prosecute those responsible. Congresswoman Maloney has sponsored a bill to target conduct committed by those involved in the promotion of commercial sex acts, by enabling the IRS to prosecute sex traffickers for tax evasion and recover the profits from their crimes.

Missing Children: Congresswoman Maloney fought to pass the law that ensures every missing child is entered into the National Crime Information Center database. This policy makes certain that every step is taken to recover missing children and provide local law enforcement agencies with as much information as possible to find missing children and return them to their families. Read more

More on Human Trafficking

"Every year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked around the world, including in the United States. This is a $150 billion illegal industry and is one of the fast-growing criminal enterprises in the world – this is unacceptable.

"Throughout my career in Congress, I have worked to combat trafficking, which is, simply put, modern-day slavery. I am proud to have helped lead landmark legislative efforts to protect and support survivors and provide law enforcement with the necessary tools and resources to find and bring human traffickers to justice.

NEW YORK—Today, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) joined with survivors of sex trafficking and anti-trafficking advocates to celebrate the impact of House and Senate passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which includes an amendment added in the House to incorporate provisions of the Senate bill, Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). Although the bill has not yet been formally signed into law, websites known to advertise sex with trafficking victims are already shutting down.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Senate passed the bipartisan H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which includes an amendment added in the House to incorporate provisions of S. 1693, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). After Senate passage of the FOSTA-SESTA legislative package, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), co-chair and co-founder of the Human Trafficking Caucus, released the following statement:

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, after House passage of the bipartisan H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), Congresswomen Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12),co-chair and co-founder of the Human Trafficking Caucus, released the following statement

WASHINGTON—The House Tuesday passed far-reaching legislation that aims to curb online sex trafficking by holding websites more accountable for their users’ activities, a rare political defeat for internet companies.

The final vote on the bill was 388 to 25, with strong support among both Republicans and Democrats. The legislation is also expected to pass the Senate by a wide margin, although that vote could be delayed by lawmakers allied with the tech industry.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), co-chair and co-founder of the Human Trafficking Caucus, released the following statement after the House Rules Committee announced that H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), is scheduled to come to the floor the week of February 26.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) joined Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA) to praise the unanimous passage of the End Banking for Human Traffickers Act (H.R. 2219) by the House Financial Services Committee during a full committee markup:

WASHINGTON, DC - Following President Trump’s meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and in light of the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) joined Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R-MO), Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) on a joint letter to United States Trade Representative Robert E.